Research

Stanford is a premier research institution and the number of incredibly talented basic and clinical scientists is formidable. Silicon Valley is also the home of a major component of the biotechnology industry in this country and in the world. Thus, it is the expectation that most if not all of our surgical residents will spend a well-planned one, two or three year period pursuing basic clinical or new and nontraditional forms of research. This is not an absolute requirement and there have been a number of residents in the last decade who have completed the program in five clinical years. The pursuit of new knowledge and the development of new techniques that will benefit patient care are an essential ingredient of the Training Program and of the types of individuals we are looking for to become residents at Stanford. Below is a list of recent trainees, the focus of their laboratory research and their mentors.

Research by Surgical Residents : 2002-2004

Oscar Abilez, MD
Using mouse embryonic stem cells to create a blood vessel
Mentor : Christopher Zarins, MD

Leora Balsam , MD
Reviewing models of ischemic heart injury and mechanisms of myocardial repair and regeneration
Mentor : Robert Robbins, MD

Matthew Bloom, MD
Evaluation and design of next-generation instruments for patient care and clinical training
Mentor: Thomas Krummel, MD

Anthony Caffarelli, MD
Investigating embryonic stem cell transplantation as a therapy to repair infarcted myocardium
Mentor : Robert C. Robbins, MD

Tony Fang , MD
Investigation of the mechanism of successful distraction osteogenesis, using rat mandibular distraction models
Mentor : Michael Longaker, MD

Danagra G. Ikossi, MD
UCSF NIH/NRSA Trauma Training Grant Research Fellow
Research on (1) shock physiology, oxygen delivery, utilization and metabolism in a small animal model, (2) an observational, clinical study on the use of tissue oxygen monitoring in the deltoid muscle, both invasive and non-invasive (3) analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank data on Trauma in Pregnancy, and (4) educational research on the use of simulators in training surgical residents in trauma.
Mentors: Dr. M.M. Knudson and Dr. T.K. Hunt

Donald Jenkins, MD
Using a selective model of acute liver injury to study whether a variety of adult somatic multipotent cells are capable of conversion into functional hepatocytes
Mentor : Karl Sylvester, M.D.

John Langell, MD
Fellowship in aerospace medicine with NASA/UTMB. Working in the area of operational flight medicine, hyperbaric and dive, and extreme environment medicine. Research focuses on pharmacotherapeutic countermeasures for galactic cosmic and solar radiation exposure.
Mentor : Richard Jennings , MD

David Le, MD
Application of robotic technology for Cardiac, Thoracic, and General Surgery
Mentor: Fred Moll, Intuitive Surgical

Payam Massaband , MD
Working on the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in liver organogenesis and pathologic liver states, such as hepatoblastoma.
Mentor : Karl Sylvester, MD

Tom C. Nguyen, MD
Valvular and Ventricular Dynamics using Surgically Implanted Markers
Mentor : Craig D. Miller, MD

Shawn Rangel, MD
Development of standardized and objective methodology for the critical appraisal of observational data in the pediatric surgical literature.
Mentor : R. Lawrence Moss, MD

Fil Rodriguez , MD
Cardiac physiology and mitral regurgitation using myocardial marker vidoefluoroscopic technology in an ovine myocardial model
Mentor: Craig Miller, MD

Lana Schumacher, MD
Gene therapy for cancer Hepatoma and Melanoma clinical trials, vector design, in vivo gene transfer and immunotherapy.
Mentor : John Economous, M.D.

Mike Song , MD
Suture patterning and skull development in both the Zebrafish and mammalian (murine) models. Investigatng both osteogenic inducers and inhibitors
Mentor: Michael Longaker, M.D.